{"id":36599,"date":"2021-06-18T16:37:13","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T23:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=36599"},"modified":"2021-06-18T16:37:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T23:37:13","slug":"new-evacuation-alert-system-now-available-at-torrance-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=36599","title":{"rendered":"New Evacuation Alert System Now Available at Torrance Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align=\"center\"><em>Beach Emergency Evacuation Lights System increases beach accessibility for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.<\/em><\/h3>\n<p align=\"left\">TORRANCE, California\u2014LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, local officials and members of Los Angeles County\u2019s deaf and hard of hearing communities celebrated the launch of the Beach Emergency Evacuation Lights System (BEELS) on Friday.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Originally conceived by Department of Beaches and Harbors (DBH) Safety Officer Randy Dean and developed with input from the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD), BEELS is the first beach evacuation warning system worldwide to incorporate flashing lights specifically designed to alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing to an evacuation.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u201cOur beaches belong to everyone and they have to be safe and accessible for everyone,\u201d said LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn. \u201cSo much of our emergency technology ignores the needs of our deaf and hard of hearing residents. This simple update to our evacuation alert system could not only save lives\u2014it sends a powerful message to the deaf community that the County is working to serve them and cares about inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u201cGLAD is honored to collaborate on this exciting and long overdue project to improve communication access for our deaf and hard of hearing beachgoers,\u201d said GLAD Director of Human Services Renee Thomas. \u201cWe have never had this access until BEELS, and we are thrilled to see this happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">In addition to flashing lights for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, BEELS features announcements in English and Spanish that indicate the type of emergency and whether it is a water-only or full beach evacuation. The audio also includes a siren to warn people who may not understand either language.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u201cBEELS is another example of how when we expand access with one group in mind, we end up providing a benefit for all,\u201d DBH Director Gary Jones said. \u201cIt also shows how one person\u2014in this case, our own Randy Dean\u2014can make a difference and accomplish something that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">BEELS\u2019 lights and speakers are mounted on two lifeguard towers, the permanent lifeguard and restroom building, and the restroom building on the north end of Torrance Beach. During tests, the lights could be seen from more than a quarter of a mile away, and the audio measured 109 decibels at the water in front of the lifeguard building.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Once the pilot project at Torrance Beach has finished, DBH plans to expand the system to cover beaches along the LA County coast.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ci5.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/j06nWb35Vp-QvnL7IK1eCm4Adp8YVmH9kaMQWkY_ScC-6bsFpsC5zyMC6al2JLWdt_VH24E2EgkzWqZ4MfkzTzjBE63YUZ4c2JDsNBM3mdRO-4wEenAKna2NbToHHMOEedyhfPlcl4K7bDAZq6jtq83NHywC-NsHKYgrQyF8b5wtT9ntpUKORr-uxW_nqw=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/content.govdelivery.com\/attachments\/fancy_images\/CALACOUNTY\/2020\/02\/3166695\/2981508\/20200225-updated-motto_crop.png\" alt=\"Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors - Caring for Our Coast\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beach Emergency Evacuation Lights System increases&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36600,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36599\/revisions\/36600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}